Flamborough Head, England

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Date:

1882

Artist:

Winslow HomerAmerican, 1836-1910

About this artwork

Flamborough Head, England shows Maggie Storey, one of Homer's favorite models, standing resolutely upon the high chalk cliffs of Flamborough. Bearing the burden of a large basket and with her hands firmly on her hips, she is every bit the strong fisherwoman, the artist's most frequent subject during his English sojourn of 1881-82. Homer positions the viewer slightly below Storey, giving her an even nobler, more monumental presence. The greater solidity and refinement of Homer's figure drawing style was due at least in part to his study of Old Master drawings at the British Museum.

This drawing demonstrates a shift in the way that Homer used opaque white watercolor. No longer reserving it for discrete highlights, he adopted the English practice of diluting opaque white watercolor to portray mist, clouds, and the “effects of distance and atmosphere” (Cohn 1977, p. 51). The artist applied this media in broad, expressive strokes, ending them in curves to indicate wispy clouds and varying the opacity to suggest different densities. He employed a dilute wash in the lower portion of the sky, dragging the side of his brush to create a hard edge that defined the horizon.

The Art Institute of Chicago, "Watercolors by Winslow Homer from the Collection of Martin A. Ryerson," April 1926, no cat.

The Art Institute of Chicago, "Watercolors by Winslow Homer from the Collection of Martin A. Ryerson," July–Fall, 1926, no cat.

The Buffalo Fine Art Academy, Albright Art Gallery, "An Important Group of Paintings in Oil and Water Color by Winslow Homer: Loaned by The Art Institute of Chicago," December 15, 1929–January 6, 1930, cat. 20.

City Art Museum of St. Louis, "Water Colors by Winslow Homer Lent by the Art Institute of Chicago," December 15, 1932–January 15, 1933, no cat.

Indianapolis, Ind., John Herron Art Institute, "Watercolors by Winslow Homer Lent by the Art Institute of Chicago," November 1–December 15, 1936, no cat.

Washington, D.C., The National Gallery, "Winslow Homer: A Retrospective Exhibition," November 23, 1958–January 4, 1959, p. 128, cat. 205; also traveled to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, January 29–March 8, 1959.

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, "Winslow Homer," April l3–June 3, 1973, pp. 32 and 142, cat. 173 (ill.), cat. by Lloyd Goodrich; also traveled to the Los Angeles County Museum, July 3–August 15, 1973; and The Art Institute of Chicago, September 8–October 21, 1973.

Alexander W. Drake, New York, by 1911 [Indianapolis exh. cat. 1911]; sold by Alexander Drake to the Macbeth Gallery, New York; sold to Martin A. Ryerson (1856–1932), Chicago, June 1, 1917; given to the Art Institute, 1933.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email .